Some embodiments described herein relate generally to methods and apparatus for a colorless, directionless, and contentionless (CDC) optical network architecture. In particular, but not by way of limitation, some embodiments described herein relate to methods and apparatus for a modular CDC optical network architecture optimized for super-channels and individual channels.
A reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) node can provide flexibility and reconfigurability for an optical network. Such capabilities enable network operators to quickly and flexibly respond to network changes, such as establishing new optical paths or releasing existing optical paths. These ROADM capabilities enable some known modern optical networks to achieve colorlessness, directionlessness, and contentionlessness (CDC) and provide improved efficiency of the optical networks. Known solutions to build an optical network with CDC capabilities include a multi-cast switch (MCS)-based structure and an optical cross connect (OXC) switch-based structure. The MCS-based structure, however, typically does not scale and is not cost efficient when the ROADM node includes more than four directions. The OXC-based structure often uses very large OXC switches, which are not scalable and are potential single points of failure. In addition, an optical network using a known MCS-based structure or a known OXC-based structure may only implement 1:1 protection scheme, which typically has a slower restoration compared to 1+1 protection scheme.
Accordingly, a need exists for methods and apparatus to provide a scalable and highly capable optical network structure with CDC capabilities and 1+1 protection scheme.